Illumination
by BlueSkyes
Summary: One small girl,tampered by science is faced with the coming death of Earth. With the destruction and responsibility to save mankind resting on her shoulders she never expected love to find her.
1. Jewel

** Illumination**

Chapter One: _Jewel_

Even though I am fated to fade away,

as long as you are alive life will go on for all eternity…

Life goes on, continuing beyond the night

Into a tomorrow filled with light.

Mankind lead their world to destruction with no way back. Earths stability grew weak, the death of the only known mother planet came closer with each passing day. It is the year five thousand. With no other alternatives, they will need to find a new home, a new world, a planet somewhere else far away to call home.

Nozomi, the girl of hope, stood on a hill gazing into the endless space before her on the verge of a new dawn; planning and calculating out mans next move. A soft breeze danced gently with her hair as she scanned the horizon. Every burden of mans sin and miscalculations and even life laid on her body, her mind and spirit, if she still had a soul. She had been tampered with at birth. Nozomi's mother knew that herself and her unborn child were both dying of a new common disease that had already infected a numerous amount of people in this age.

There was no cure to save her or the child so in a possibility to rid themselves of the disease she gave herself and child to scientists who had recently spread news that they were in need of live bodies to test on. She prayed her child would live; when the scientist went to work her body; inconsolably, could not be cured due to the amount of the disease in her body so she was frozen in time to pause the affects of the ailment until they found the specific antidote she needed. Her last words were for her unborn daughter and they were words of hope. An hour later Nozomi, which the scientist had named meaning hope, was indeed saved and cured of the disease but also overcame much more in the process.

She was the new age of human beings. Nozomi's body was altered to handle and think beyond what the normal capacity of person could ever accomplish in his or her life. This girl's young existence had been shared with the machines of research that were bound to her, prodding, adding and ripping apart her body. Testing what was never tested before on humans.

She was in spite of that still beautifully unique. She had a face all her own compared to the normal people around her. The only real human like features was her hair and her profound watery blue eyes but what laid underneath her was not as well alike. Her girlish being on the outside appeared to be so fragile, like droplets of water collecting in a delicate crystal basin. Her complexion was so pale that when light touched her it set the air around her alight and created a radiant glow. She was the jewel of man, their hope.

"Nozomi," a whispering voice requested, carried on the breeze of the dawning day, "Tell me what you see"  
"I see a dying star." She replied holding her hand over her eyes to shield the rising suns light.  
"Nozomi that is our star, the sun, you have to look farther than that." But Nozomi was no longer interested in what this voice said. Birds flew over her head catching her eye and she innocently went bounding after them. "Child!" The voice called harshly. "Come back and tell me what you had seen in the night sky, stay right there and search until you find what you have been told to."

Nozomi slowly turned her head back to the voice; the warm breeze grazing her cheek as she brushed her long thick blonde braids over her shoulders saying with the tiniest sigh, "I cannot now"  
"Then come inside"  
"I do not wish to come inside." the girl spoke sweetly, "If you want me to come inside then come out here and make me." she grinned. Somewhere deep inside Nozomi knew she would be punished, maybe they would alter her brain and make her obey their rules. She shook her head, no she had broken much greater rules before and they still had not altered her to be their slave. I can still have some control over my fate, she told herself.

A small robin perched herself on the child's shoulder and began to nip at her hair playfully. "Hello." Nozomi warmly welcomed to robin to perch on her finger. "What news do you bring?" she asked the bird. The bird chirped away frantically.

"Tell me Nozomi," the bothersome voiced inquired again, "what does the bird speak of? Is it about the condition of earth?"

"No," she lied. Every time she would tell the voice that earths creatures spoke gravely of the earths ending she would be forced to stand outside looking out into the sky for a week straight.  
"Are you lying?" Some how despite how hard she tried the voice always knew.

"Sir!" A woman saluted a man decorated in badges and ribbons, "How far along is Operation Illumination? Have there been any news from the scientists, any news on finding the new earth?" The woman stood before a large consul inside a massive building that linked the earths forces together.

The man she was speaking to was the leader of the earth forces, clearing his throat he replied, "No, in fact there has been no news for a longer period of time then we have expected"  
"Then," she paused, her mind seeming to battled with her emotions, "perhaps it is worthless to believe that this will even be successful! We should act now instead of wasting our precious time." She said, emotions winning and therefore raised her voice in stress and concern.  
"Give it time Leiko," the older man told her, folding his hands in front of his mouth, "there is still hope"  
"Sir," she held back faintly; her face relaxing.


	2. Ambience

Chapter two: **Ambience**

Nozomi would see just how far she could break the rules for today. She was acquainted with the fact that she was an annoyance but she just craved freedom, she wished to explore what was on the outsides of her boundaries.

She ran down the hill and up the next one and spotted up ahead something shimmering as brightly as she. Nozomi bounced towards it ignoring the very agitated voice that was telling her to come back. When she drew nearer to the white something she realized the voice could no longer reach her. Gleefully she leaped closer to the white grounds.

Nozomi squinted her eyes when she reached what she now knew was a pond that was catching the bright suns rays, creating a pale like color similar to her skin. "Oh." She mumbled softly a little disappointed that the white something was just this. She bent down to dip a finger into the surface of the water, she watched as the ripples slowly covered the entirely of the pond.

Nozomi sat down on the warm grass beside the pond and looked disdainfully up into the blue sky.  
"I hate the night sky, but I enjoy you day sky for your clouds." She was fond of the big white fluffy clouds and the shapes they could make. They reminded her of how she was, they were molded to fit how the person wanted to see them, to use them for their own purpose but of course the clouds could make their own decisions. They didn't have to stay like that all the time like she did, when the clouds had enough they would separate from the form and part with the other clouds that were just like them and they slowly together drifted away. But she couldn't, she was like a caged bird and all alone.

She stood up gently and walked closer towards the water bending down so the water reflected the rays of sun on to her face so that she could feel its warmth.

In all of this tranquil peacefulness Nozomi still felt the presence of death all around her. It was hidden from the normal human eye but of course not for Nozomi's tampered ones, nothing for her could ever be peaceful. Filled with torture she ran out into the water in what felt like slow motion. Why? She thought, why am I the only one like me? Expecting to fall into the depth of the water she prepared herself to thrash about but was surprised when she did not fall, she was standing on the surface of the water, strange she thought, it felt like solid ground. Nozomi planned not to tell the voice about this new discovery.

Nozomi, now giggling, thanks to her new secret, danced around the water top pretending she was actually on top of a cloud. She felt a warmth she couldn't explain, her soundings were so tender like. She closed her eyes and hugged herself tightly trying to think of what this feeling was, it was something she missed more than anything in the world. She felt so unbelievable warm.

"Nozomi!" Nozomi slowly opened her eyes, feeling her blood drain from her face as she looked up. So they had to sent out the machine again to retrieve her. Oh how she hated this "fetching" machine. "No," she cried out helplessly as the machine extended a metal hand to reach her and pluck her from on top of the water. Its cold claws clasped around her waist and lifted her up.

"I do not wish to go back!" The transmitted voice from inside the emotionless machine stayed silent.

Smack! Nozomi's cheek reddened with pain. She did not look at her punisher but stayed still. With her head already faced to the side she looked at the other scientists who had gathered around to watch what was going on. Any other girl in Nozomi's position would have started crying about now but not her, she was stronger than them. She told the scientists to go away.

"Nozomi, last night you were told to look to the fourth quadrant," the owner of the bothersome voice bent down to pour documents and charts onto the table, his white lab coat washed away with the bright light that hung over the two making Nozomi strain to see. Everything else surrounding her was black.  
"Did you see anything?" his voice sharpened.

"I did not see anything," Nozomi said as quiet as she could to lessen the impact it would have on these people surrounding her. The scientist punched the table as hard as he could making her flinch.

"Get out of my sight." he said and with that Nozomi walked away as quickly as she could. What is my purpose? Nozomi questioned herself as she lied alone on the cold floor of a white room. Why do they demand of me answers I do not know. Why can't they find the answers themselves? There were so many questions that irked her that she gave into the anguish and wept for all the world to see. She felt so isolated.

Information filled the room with its loud agonizing grinding noise as papers collected in a bin, it was the reports of the scientist. Anxious fingers reached for the papers in a frenzy, hoping for good news and to getting a step closer to what they desired most.

"Someone," the youngest person among them spoke out clutching and looking at a sheet of paper close to his handsome face, "hurry get the chief." Some of the others looked at the youthful man will a hidden smile buried in their features while more looked somber and nervous.

"Isn't it good news sir?" The juvenile man promptly walked, Brushing back his dark silky brown hair he spoke loudly trying to keep up with the long strides of the chief and his discovered paper.

"Uh yeah," the chief said hardly noticing he was there. He was a rugged man who looked like he had one too many cups of coffee and late nights. Thinking to himself he knew this discovery would mean he would be responsible for getting the paper to the leader of the nations and it would also mean seeing "her" again.  
The young man was pushed aside by the rugged man's hand as they entered his office, "So now what do I do, Ronin?" The boy called out worriedly but he was ignored by the man and the door was shut on his face. At this point he realized that maybe the information he discovered should not of been known.

"Uhm," he heard Ronin say from the inside of his office, "you better get yourself somewhere safe, now." Strangely enough his life was endangered even before he touched that paper.

The young man stood there, speechless and stupid until he pulled himself out of it. "Think Havyn, think," he told himself. I should get out of this complex as soon as I can, he reasoned with himself.

Walking where his feet carried he came upon a large hallway that broke into two smaller ones. If he make a left turn he would enter a blue hallway that leads to the company's less significant complex. If he made a right turn he would find himself in a large white hallway that he was never been before. If he wanted to be safe he knew he should turn left but something pulled him towards the right.

Havyn knew he never made good decisions in his life, especially today when he touched the reports of the scientists and again when he was little, a time that he wished with all of his might that he could forget.  
Not much cluttered the sides of the white hallway, a few boxes and a few homeless people who found refuge along long empty corridors. If I could just lose myself here, he thought, as he passed by a wide window that stretched the length of the hallway. The trees outside in the sunshine stood tall and were of bright green colors and covering the entirety of the outside floor was the grass that stood unattended and greener than ever. Much had grown back over the years, he noted.

Men and women today did not find themselves often reflecting the past. It was dark and brought them to shed tears for what they lost, what they took for granted, and the day it was taken away from them. No, hardly anyone spoke of the past and many found that they had denied it from the day the earth turned on them.

Havyn remembered a time when he was little and was lost; separated for the first time from his mother. A fire had let loose chaos inside a housing complex where hundreds of people lived. Frantically, families without a purpose screamed and ran away as fast as they could. But it was useless, they were trapped inside the burning complex, the fire's fumes had no where to vent as the exits were sealed to contain the fire from spreading anywhere else. Havyn cried as loudly as his small body would allow him to. People ran past the boy but did not stop to help him. It was the only time in his life when he felt completely alone.

The dense smoke made it hard to breath and see. All that the small boy's eyes were able to see were the flames that licked and soarched everything in its path. Then the closest wall gave from part of a house and came crashing down on the boy.

Even though he squeezed his eyes shut to escape the horror before him he still saw white through his closed eyes from the fire. But then something stepped in front of the white light of what he saw, like a shield. His mother firmly seized him and lifted him up in her arms and ran. When he opened his eyes he saw her, surrounded by pure white, like an angel. Somehow they survived the fire.

So now it was his turn to save himself, his mother could not protect him forever. Havyn's eyes broke from a distant gaze to find a few homeless people looking with a questioning glances. He continued walking down the white hallway that made him repeatly remember his mother and all the fond memories he had shared with her. Each one brought him close to tears.

"I have an proposition for you," a sudden voice broke the spell of memories. It was a man behind Havyn. He turned around to see the man standing up against the wall, he had appeared out of nowhere.

Havyn felt uneasy by the presence of this man, "Who are you?" Havyn asked the man.

The man ignored his question. "Tell me what you know and I will show you the most beautiful object on this dying world."

"Huh?" Havyn's face filled with curiosity. He felt unsure of this man but for some reasoned believed what he was telling him. Even though Havyn was still in danger Havyn, for a few seconds, forgot that. He could not see the mans face as he stood in the only shady part of the hallway.

"My name is Gareth," he said as he walked past Havyn, "follow me." It seemed like slow motion to Havyn, he could feel cold shivers up and down his spine caused by this odd man. What am I getting myself into, he thought. He had seen that Gareth's face was covered in scars.


End file.
